Boxing
by Z.R. Bloomfield
Summary: Cooper's got a few questions about what's been going on since he was home.


**Hi everyone! Long time, no post.**

**This is inspired by the shot in "Fighter" during Big Brother where Blaine's boxing and Cooper's standing in the doorway, just watching him, looking kind of surprised. From the way the episode played out, I figure that Cooper probably hasn't been home since Sadie Hawkins, if not before that, and he and Blaine obviously aren't super close. So, here this is!**

**Reviews are lovely!**

**xoBloomfield**

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The Anderson house had remained unchanged from the time Cooper Anderson graduated high school and moved out west, never to return again, to today, the day he did the unthinkable and returned.

No pictures, anywhere. Spotless furniture, spotless carpets, spotless tile floors, spotless everything. Neutral colors. Nothing to suggest that a Hollywood actor and his beyond talented kid brother lived there. It was depressing, Cooper thought.

He got home from his Masters Class and found his mother making dinner. He tried to remember if she'd ever been home and waiting for him when he got home from school when he was younger. He didn't think so.

"Hi, Mom," he said, draping his leather jacket over a chair. He pressed a kiss to her cheek—old habit; being back in Ohio had dragged up a lot of those—and hopped up onto the counter.

"Get down," she scolded, but was ignored. "How was the class?"

"Fine. Hey, since when did Blaine box?" He watched her face for any emotion, anything to indicate that was something new, or old, or less-than-ideal, _anything_. But Susan Anderson was the queen of no emotion, and he seemed to have forgotten that.

"Around the time he started going to Dalton, I think. Your father thinks it's good for him."

"Dad thinks anything manly's good for him." Susan Anderson fixed him with a half-glare for only a moment. They both knew it was true.

"Why do you ask?"

"I was looking for him after the class, to see if he needed a ride home, and one of the glee kids—he's really tall, and he was hanging out with Kurt, so—anyway, I found him in the weights room, and he was beating the ever-loving crap out of the punching bag." His mother threw a dash of some kind of spice into the pot she was cooking. "I just didn't remember anybody telling me that he took up boxing."

"He never mentioned it to you?" she asked, not really sounding shocked. "I thought you two talked all the time."

"We email back and forth, but not a _lot_, a lot. After he changed his number we fell out of touch for a little bit, but…" he trailed off.

"You know why he did that," Susan said in that voice where she didn't do bullshit. He'd heard it a lot directed at him and his father over the years, but almost never at Blaine. "He kept getting calls from his old schoolmates." Schoolmates. That was how Susan Anderson referred to her son's tormentors. She had a way of making things sound better than they were, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it just wasn't a good thing, either.

"I wonder why he was, though," she said after a moment. "Today wasn't a boxing day for him." When she caught Cooper's confused look, she elaborated, "He has specific days of the week when he stays late to box. He doesn't box on Tuesdays."

The door to the garage opened and Cooper leaned around the counter to see Blaine trudging through the door, his satchel over his shoulder and gym bag in his hand.

"Blaine?"

"Hi, Mom. I'm just gonna go shower."

"Okay, honey, we'll have dinner when you're ready. Your father's working late again." Cooper rolled his eyes. Some things never changed. He waited until he heard the footsteps disappear up the stairs before speaking again.

"Do you think I should talk to him?" She fixed him with that all-knowing look he hated. He'd been on the receiving end of it ever since Blaine had been born.

Cooper hopped off the counter and headed for the stairs, skipping them two at a time as he went. He stopped in front of Blaine's door, and stared at it for a second. He knocked twice.

"What?" He turned the knob and pushed through gently.

"Hey, squirt," Cooper said, a winning smile in place. He didn't _do_ awkward, heartfelt conversations. Lunch had proved that much.

"Don't call me that." Blaine was facing away from him, looking for something in his closet. "Did you need something?"

"When did you start boxing?" Blaine froze. He didn't turn around, but he stood up straighter.

"Who told you?"

"You disappeared after the Masters Class. Kurt told me you were probably in the weights room." He saw his brother stiffen, and started talking faster. "I would've forced it out of him if he hadn't told me, or made someone else tell me. Don't be mad at him." He could almost hear the scathing remark about not having to force anybody to do anything for him bubbling up from his brother, but Blaine kept himself in check.

"After I healed from Sadie Hawkins," he said quietly, grabbing a T-shirt and pajama pants that looked about six inches too long for him. "It was Dad's idea."

"I'm sure it was."

"I agreed to it, didn't I?" He took a deep breath. "Needed some way to protect myself." Cooper watched his brother kick his sneakers off and shove them into the closet.

"Were you ever gonna tell me?"

"Were you ever gonna call?" Blaine countered.

"Oh, come on, you're the one who got a new number!"

"You did too!"

"Mom told you mine, what's your excuse?" Blaine opened his mouth to argue, but it fell short. Cooper raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Gotcha, kid."

"I have to shower. Go call the Progressive girl or something." And suddenly, Cooper was on the other side of Blaine's door and it was being slammed behind him.

"Good talk," he muttered.


End file.
